Way back on February 18, 1970 I started a list keeping track of every book I read - and today I reached one of those nice, round numbers that stand out: 3,000 books read. The 3,000 books listed do not include several dozen audiobooks that I completed during the same period, but they probably total another 100 or 150 books.
With everything going on in my world these last few days, I had kind of lost track of how close I was to reaching that point. As it turns out, number 3,000 was written by one of my favorite British authors, Gerald Seymour. His Vagabond is a political/espionage thriller having to do with a rogue group in Northern Ireland that still believes violence is the only way to fight their British "occupiers." It's a good book that I will be reviewing in a couple of weeks.
I admit to being a numbers freak, so if statistics bore you, it's time to tune out:
- Number of books read in a given year varies all the way from 11 in 1975 to 141 in 2007.
- It took me 21 years and 4 months to read the first 1,000.
- It took me 16 years and 10 months to read the second 1,000.
- It took me 8 years and 2 months to read the third 1,000.
- That's an average of over 65 books per year for just over 46 years.
- The last 1,071 books I've read are reviewed here on Book Chase.
So enough with the stats. It's time now to start on the next 1,000 books.
I do love numbers and these are very interesting. I sure wish I had kept track of my reading for that long.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nan. I can't remember why I started my book log in the middle of February like that but I'm glad I did.
DeleteThat's quite the nice round number! :)
ReplyDeleteThere's just something special about numbers that end in multiple zeros. :-)
DeleteMy favorite thing about this post is that after reading 3000 books your first thought is that you're ready to read a thousand more.
ReplyDeleteMy goal has always been to hit 5,000, and I'm hoping that the clock doesn't catch up with me before I hit that number. The next four are all partially read now...and counting.
DeleteWell done! You have inspired me to count 'em up. I've been tracking steadily since Jan. 1, 1993. There was also an attempt to begin tracking earlier, so I have a list from 1990. Your numbers make me feel fierce and inspired, so I must be a bit of a numbers freak as well.
ReplyDelete"Fierce and inspired." I love that. Do let me know what number you come up with...I still hope to hit 5,000 before the fourth quarter clock ticks it's last. Maybe I should start preserving my remaining time outs now.
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